For nearly its entire existence, national broadcaster NHK’s New Year's Eve spectacle “Kohaku Uta Gassen” has served as an overview of the preceding 12 months in Japanese pop. Since its inception in 1953, many households have gathered around the TV to catch up on the country’s biggest hits over roughly four hours of performances before ringing in a new year.
The 2024 lineup, announced Tuesday from NHK’s Broadcast Center in Tokyo, underlines how capturing a year of J-pop in one broadcast bonanza is impossible these days. The country’s musical landscape has become so fragmented, there are myriad ways to discover new music and multiple platforms where a song can become a hit while being invisible elsewhere.
The national broadcaster deserves some credit for trying its best, though. This year’s program is set to feature artists behind some of the biggest hits of the past 12 months, highlighted by the pop-rock trio Mrs. Green Apple and rap duo Creepy Nuts. In an effort to please every possible demographic that could tune in to “Kohaku” on Dec. 31, there’s a healthy mix of long-running acts for the grandparents (Hiromi Go, Kaori Mizumori), 1990s throwbacks for the now solidly middle-aged (Glay, aiko) and emerging Gen Z stars (ME:I, tuki.).
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